Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods of implementing logic gates with photons, and more particularly to implementing such gates both with quantum computing capacities as well as modifiability of the character of the logical operation thereby enacted.
Related Art
The substantial significance and benefits of information processing in modern society cannot be disputed, and hence there is an ever present imperative to seek ever more powerful, more efficient, faster, and less costly means of processing information. The advances and rewards of the electronic integrated circuit on silicon chip approach to information processing are major, and will continue to improve in the future. However, this approach, like all technologies, has substantial constraints as well, including considerable power consumption, heat generation, computational efficiency, and potential technical roadblocks that may hamper, prevent, or at least greatly complicate achieving continuing advances. One alternative approach that is receiving increasing attention is information processing through the manipulation of photons (light quanta.)
Another alternative approach has been given the label of quantum computation and involves utilizing principles of quantum mechanics to accomplish manners and powers of computation that are not practically achievable with integrated circuits on silicon chips. The capacities of quantum computing are only beginning to be explored, though it is known that it can provide capabilities that are not attainable via conventional technologies for computing.
A substantial number of techniques and achievements in the field of photonic manipulation, computation, and quantum computation have been effected, and are being researched. A number of these efforts are hereby incorporated by reference, as described in the United States published patent database. It should be understood that these references are incorporated solely for their efficacy in describing the various technical capacities that exist at preset, for purposes of enablement of the embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein. In no way are these considered to be prior art, nor are they anticipatory nor do they render obvious any of the present application. Additionally, in some of the incorporated references, there may be assertions of judgment and/or characterization that can be construed to be subjective in some way and these are not a part of the present application. These references' incorporation is solely intended to provide further details of a variety of manners of effecting some of the techniques utilized in the present invention, since the enablement is judged at the time of filing and does not adjust for the present application's claim of earlier priority. With these limitations understood, the references incorporated herein by reference are U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,298,180, 6,473,541, 6,633,053, 6,678,450, 6,788,838, 6,819,474, 7,180,645, 7,498,832, 7,714,605, 7,791,780, 7,836,007, 7,844,152, 7,925,131, and 8,031,985, as well as United States Published Patent Application Nos. 20080310000, 20100098373, and 20120039560 as contributing context to explicate the technical capacities available to achieve the operations of the embodiments of the present invention.